Huge database

[gbogdanov]

Good afternoon, i have to make a huge database wich have to get data from
excel file.That is not a big problem problem is that i have to get
information for about 1000 families with 1000 elements for every family and
this database have to storage this information at leaset one year. This make
a huge pack of elements. Can Microsoft Access get so huge pack of data ? If
yes i would be glad to read some ideas.
Thanks

 

[Jerry Whittle]

If you are talking about 1000 columns in a table, Access can't do it. 255 is
the upper limit.

1,000 * 1,000 is potentially a million records. However if the data is
properly normalized there could be much fewer.

I'd start by building a properly normalized database in Access. If you find
that it doesn't have the power to handle your needs, you could upsize to SQL
Server pretty easy.

If the word 'normalized' has you scratching your head, I highly recommend
getting some relational database training or reading "Database Design for
Mere Mortals" by Hernandez before proceeding on this database.

 

[John W. Vinson]

Good afternoon, i have to make a huge database wich have to get data from
excel file.That is not a big problem problem is that i have to get
information for about 1000 families with 1000 elements for every family and
this database have to storage this information at leaset one year. This make
a huge pack of elements. Can Microsoft Access get so huge pack of data ? If
yes i would be glad to read some ideas.
Thanks

What are the "elements"? As Jerry says, if they're columns in a spreadsheet,
you will need to restructure the data. "Fields are expensive, records are
cheap" - you will need two or more tall, thin tables such as

Families
FamilyID
<information about the family as a unit, maybe address>

People
PersonID
FamilyID <link to Families, what family is this person in>
LastName
FirstName
<other biographical info>

Elements
ElementID <primary key>
Description <text, what is this element>

PersonElements
ElementID <link to Elements, what element are you discussing>
PersonID <link to People, who does this element apply to>
<information about this person/this element>

In terms of size, even if you have a million intersections, it's comfortably
within what Access can handle with good design. You're limited by the total
size of the database - two billion bytes. That's a LOT more than you seem to
have.